Peoria is a real city in Illinois, in the middle of the United States, and an important river port on the Illinois River. Barges and grain and factory work have long been part of its story; for many years it was also known as a big machinery town. Say it pee-OR-ee-ə. Though actually, if you only meet the name in a joke, Americans may not be talking about the map at all. Old theatre people used to ask, ‘Will it play in Peoria?’ — meaning, will ordinary people in the middle of the country like this show, this product, this idea? So the city stands, a little unfairly, for ‘average America.’ The place itself is not a punchline; it is a working river city that happened to become a measuring stick.